Manually Adding GRIBs to iNavx without Jailbreak

Main navigation

Back in July of 2011 I wrote a pretty geeky post about adding grib files to iNavx by first jailbreaking your iPad and then doing a series of complicated steps to get the gribs from Airmail (or wherever you download them from) to the iPad. I’m here to say that with newer versions of iOS (5+) there is an easier way.

First I should explain why this is a concern. If you are bluewater cruising, chances are you will not be able to use iNavX’s built in GRIB downloader. This means that you will have to download them through Airmail, zygrib, Ocens, mailasail, or what have you. These programs all have decent grib viewers but it is sometimes nice to overlay these on your charts. Enter the solution.

Download the app “Air Sharing for iPad.”

Connect your iPad to your ship’s wifi network, do the same on the laptop that has the gribs

Open Air Sharing and make sure Sharing is On

Click on the wrench

Tap “Sharing”

Slide the “Enabled” slider to “On”

Make sure the port is 80

Click on the Wifi icon in the middle of the bottom bar. That will give you the various URLs you will need to access Air Sharing from your laptop’s web browser

Open a web browser on you laptop and type on of the addresses in. I recommend using the “Bonjour” address that ends in “.local” if your laptop is a Mac. Use the numbers on a PC

On the bottom of the webpage that comes up is a link to upload a file. Navigate the dialog and upload your grib file.

In Air Sharing, find your new grib file and press-and-hold the file.

When the file gets a blue check mark next to it, look for the three dots a the bottom right of the App